Citadel'sLord of the Rings (ME) series first appeared in 1985 [1]. Prior to this, Grenadier had the miniature rights to the Tolkien franchise. In both Citadel's and Grenadier's case the miniatures were for use with Iron Crown Enterprise's MERP ("Middle-Earth Role-playing") game. Citadel would produce the series until the start of 1988 when Mithril Miniatures obtained the exclusive rights. Much later, when the Lord of the Rings films were released, Citadel would revisit the series with a non-exclusive range of figures for their The Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game.

This early range of figures had three boxed sets and a series of blister packs. There were a few variant figures in the blister packs - some of the horses were first done with solid bases but then replaced with new models that had slotta bases.